Time Before Time
by Phoebesongstar
Summary: Seven people try to stop an apocolypse
1. How it all started again

Chapter One: How it All Began (Again)  
  
A teenage girl sits next to a small stream; her name is Freya. She lies back and uses her arms as a pillow. Small fluffy clouds pass over her as she stretches and yawns.  
  
Perfect place to rest, not a soul in sight," she says softly to herself. Freya was part of the Choma clan. There are 6 clans known to still exist; Pabo, Roke, Choma, Roget, Leno, and Blumberg. All lived completely different lifestyles. Some lived in large villages, some traveled. They also had their traditions, which weren\rquote t exactly Freya\rquote s favorite part of being a Choma. At the moment she ran away from home and the Chie pirates had burned down her village. She loved being a loner; of course she hadn\rquote t seen anyone else since she had run away. It had already been two years, but she still had the thought that maybe even one person there might not have been burned to death.  
  
"I should go get Serena. She must be worried about me, Freya said walking back towards the trees.  
  
"Serena!" She yelled into the trees for her guardian dragon. She heard a remote crunching sound in the branches above and Serena jumped out of the trees to greet her, but almost squashing her. She gave her a motion to follow her and they started walking along the edge of the river. They came to a small clearing in the trees and they decided that this was a good place to make camp. Freya found some moss near the edge of a cave and made herself a bed in which she slept for the night. She woke up early the next morning and started a small campfire in a natural fire pit. It was a bit chilly out, so Freya decided to postpone breakfast and sit in front of the campfire to keep herself warm until the temperature rose a few degrees. She hummed a tune to herself while she poked at the fire to keep it burning. She laid back to watch her favorite part of nature, the beautiful sunrise, once again. She loved the way it crept up across the treetops and made everything in the forest reenergized for a new day. She could sit there for hours watching it, if it actually lasted that long.  
  
"Who's there?" a male voice yelled interrupting her thought. Freya froze and hoped her fire wouldn't give her away, but at the same time she hoped it would.  
  
"Come out and show yourself thief!" He demanded. Suddenly a young man came out of the bushes with his sword pointed directly at Freya. She slowly felt a smile crawl onto her face because even though he had a sword, she had a dragon waiting to kill him on the spot.   
  
"Who are you?" He demanded to know. She stood there and after a few seconds burst into laughter. He became annoyed and swung his sword at her. She jumped out of the way, but he was scared to death when he heard Serena behind him growling in a very deep tone. He slowly turned around and saw his worst nightmare; a 5 foot tall protective red dragon with razor sharp teeth and she's in a bad mood.   
  
"Sorry miss," he apologized now looking like a small child next to Serena.  
  
"Serena, it's okay," Freya calmed her dragon. Walking right up to the dragon with what seemed to the stranger to be an unusual amount of courage; Freya patted Serena right on the head.  
  
"Are you okay Miss?" He asked her.  
  
"I'm fine, but Serena thought you were going to hurt me," she said hopping right onto her back.  
  
"Can I offer you a place to spend the night, Miss?" He offered still a little frightened at the thought of a dragon wanting to kill him.  
  
"Um... sure," Freya responded. "Where are you from?"  
  
"My name is Dagold and I am from Trad, city of the Sensu. It's a mile to the east. You would have to leave the dragon here though," he said.   
  
"Sensu? Okay, whatever you say, but do I have to leave both dragons or just Serena?" Freya asked.  
  
"B-b-b-both?" He stuttered from fear of dragons. She pulled a leaf out of her pocket and wasn't surprised that Dagold thought she had another dragon hidden on him. 


	2. Trad

Chapter Two: Trad  
  
Freya and Dagold stepped into the busy city. People rushed by and children played in the streets. A girl walked up, her blond hair swaying in the light breeze as she carried a little boy.   
  
"Dagold, what have you been told a million times?" She asked him like she was his mother.  
  
"To put the toilet lid down when I'm done and to always wear clean underwear?" He asked sarcastically.  
  
"No outsiders in the village," she corrected him. Serena stepped out of the woods and she gasped.  
  
"Oh my goddess," she said with her hand over her mouth. Then she ran into town frightened.  
  
"To some people around here a dragon can be either a blessing or a curse, but to her, my sister, it can only be a curse and never anything else. To the elders they are a gift from the gods," Dagold explained. "They believe that only the people who can be great are destined to be able to tame them."  
  
"Then I guess mine was already tamed," Freya joked.  
  
"Already tamed?" Dagold asked confused.  
  
"I received her for my birthday a month before I ran away. Then for a while we took care of each other. She never disobeyed; she never even tried to go against me. She even helped take care of me when I was sick," Freya explained.   
  
"If only even my fish was that loyal," Dagold remarked sarcastically.   
  
"Well, I should introduce you to the elders now so I don't get into major trouble again. Last time I tried that I had horse manure duty for a month," he said starting to walk into the village. Dagold led Freya into a large wooden building where four older villagers were sitting around a table playing cards.  
  
"I thought you guys were supposed to always be busy," Dagold complained.  
  
"Not on Sundays," One of the two females corrected him.  
  
"Who is this new young lady?" The older looking male asked without turning around to see her.  
  
"My name is Freya, sir. I was requesting to spend the night in your lovely town," she introduced herself.  
  
"What is this precious item you are carrying around with you?" He questioned Freya.  
  
"Precious item? I have a dragon in the woods, but that's about it. I hope you don't mind me having it around out there because if you insist I can leave back out in the woods," Freya offered.  
  
"No need, but I would appreciate if I could see this Serena you are talking about. She sounds very interesting," the elder requested. Freya immediately ran back to the woods and called for Serena to follow her.  
  
"Here she is. She's a little grumpy, but that's only because she is holding a grudge against Dagold here for thinking that I was a thief. I think she scared him half to death," Freya brought Serena in through the short doorway.  
  
"Interesting creature, a very good specimen of a red and gray breed. They are very uncommon and I never have seen one as friendly either. The red gray dragons around these parts are menaces. They eat the livestock and terrify the children. How did she become so tame?" The Elder asked.  
  
"She was that way when she hatched. Better behaved than my father's hunting dogs," She said confused a little by what she had just said.  
  
"Sit," he commanded the dragon, but instead she blew a puff of smoke in his face.   
  
"But she only listens to me," Freya warned a little too late.  
  
"I can see that now," he said choking a little. After the smoke cleared Serena laid down on the floor.  
  
"You have a very special dragon here. Most red gray dragons are known to be very rebellious and like to be very territorial," The elder told Freya as they departed from the Elder's building.  
  
"Excuse me, Freya. May I ask you where you acquired that necklace?" The youngest elder female stopped Freya as she was walking back onto the street.  
  
"I was given to me by my mother. She gave it to me when she gave me the dragon. I never take it off," Freya said.  
  
"That necklace bestows its power of life to only the one who is worthy. The one whom it chooses learns the ways of life by experience, unlike Dagold. He is being taught the ways of fire by one of the other elders in this village, but he was chosen by the elder's instincts, not by fate," She explained.  
  
"Why don't you say he was chosen by fate then? If the elders are supposed to be the wisest then wouldn't they somehow unconsciously know the fate of Dagold?" Freya asked. The elder stood for a second thinking and replied, "Yes, I guess that would be true. Maybe you could be an elder someday. May I ask one more question?"  
  
"Sure," Freya said thinking about her necklace.  
  
"Was by chance your mother the high priestess of the Choma clan?" She asked like she already knew the answer to her own question.  
  
"Freya, you are the heir to your deceased mother, the high priestess and I ask that you stay in our city for a little while. For official initiation that is," The elder asked. Freya nodded and Dagold led her to the special guest area in the Elder's building. Freya put down her gear and gave Serena the instruction to be good and not to cause any trouble. 


	3. High Priest and Priestess

Chapter Three: High Priest and Priestess  
  
The next morning, Freya and Dagold went for teaching, and testing. Dagold was being taught hands on work in the flame room and Freya was being questioned by the oldest of the elders.  
  
"Okay, did you ever notice anything bizarre about your mother?" The elder asked.  
  
"Actually, I helped out in the temple, so everyone always acted the same way. I don't know if you would call that bizarre or just normal," Freya answered.  
  
"Did your mother have a dragon?" He asked.  
  
"No, before then I had never even known what a dragon was let alone seen one. She did have a pet bird though."  
  
"What did it look like?"  
  
"I never saw it. I could only hear it from time to time, but everyone knew about it. I guess that it might be a bird of great size."  
  
"According to our records your mother's bird wasn't actually a normal bird; it was some type of a legendary creature that only certain people could tame. Your mother just happened to be one of those people."  
  
"So I'm a freak raised by freaks, who owned freak pets, with freaky names?"  
  
"You're not freaks."  
  
"Yeah, whatever you say. I'm out of here," Freya said getting up and heading for the door with Serena following behind her.  
  
"It's your life, leave if you wish, but only if you promise to bring Dagold along with you in your travels until he is old enough to go out on his own," the elder said stopping Freya at the door.  
  
"Whatever, it's his life. If he wants to go, he can go," Freya warned.  
  
"It isn't his choice. All of us agree that it is best that you two stick together until he is old enough to survive on his own two feet," he said while another elder lead a very confused Dagold into the room with a few supplies. After they were a mile out of the city Dagold tried to start a friendly conversation.  
  
"So, what do you do around here?" He asked.  
  
"Around where?" Freya asked sarcastically.  
  
"Out here in the great outdoors," he corrected himself.  
  
"Try and survive, not draw attention to myself," Freya was dissing him in code. Dagold gave up on that subject and tried to introduce a different one.  
  
"Where are we headed?" he asked Freya who seem that the forest, bugs, and animals even fazed her in the slightest bit.  
  
"Searching for something," she gave him a vague clue not wanting for him to find out the real truth.  
  
"What are we looking for?" He asked  
  
"Fountain of youth," she said seeing if he'd believe her.  
  
"Seriously," he said stopping her in her tracks.  
  
"I am looking for the entrance to Arsadi."  
  
"You are looking for the land of the women!? You're looking for a myth!? Hundreds of people have tried thousands of times, no one even found a clue," he said like she was an insane maniac looking for a cliff to jump off of.  
  
"I have to go," Freya said hoping he would understand.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Guess how old my mother was when I was born."  
  
"Sixteen?"  
  
"Close, Sixty." Dagold had an amazed look on his face.  
  
"How could that happen? There are only 3 people on record who reached that age."  
  
"They were my great grandma, grandma, and mother. Died at 50, 70, and my mother lives on, but only because she moved out of our village," Freya explained. "My family is cursed with an almost immortality. They say that I might never die."  
  
"So why go to Arsadi?" He asked.  
  
"That's where my mother went so she would never have any more kids and this curse would finally run its course out of our lineage," she explained.  
  
"You wouldn't have a lineage then, you would stop the existence of the life high priestess. You are willing to demolish all of mankind in order to avoid a long life?" He asked her very surprised and very offended.  
  
"Mankind has been around for how long?" Freya asked a stupid question.  
  
"997 years, but what does that have to do with anything?"  
  
"Everything that has ever lived upon Gaia had a limit. On that limit everyone dies out and the world is reborn leaving only seven survivors each time. Our elders know this is going to happen, but they don't know exactly when. When it does though, they have a very strong feeling that they know it's going to be a certain seven. It is their fate to re-create the race of mankind, but each time there is great suffering. I just want it all to stop, no destruction, no rebirth, no eternal suffering, not even seven survivors," Freya tried to explain  
  
"So you think that by not continuing your lineage the whole world would end?" He asked confused  
  
"I am one of the seven." 


	4. Eight Months Later

Chapter Four: Eight months later  
  
The date it began was May 17, 53 years after the great wars. In the small country of Roget, it was princess Buffy's 16th birthday.  
  
"Do we have to do this?" she complained to her father through the door as she finished getting dressed. She was uncomfortable with that many people giving her that much attention.  
  
"Yes, but why wouldn't you want to? Just imagine, in two years you will be Mrs. Buffy Marie Beemer, Queen of Roget and Shiwa," her father answered. Buffy opened her door and had a look that meant he answered his own question.  
  
"That's what I'm afraid of," she replied putting on her makeup.  
  
"Why would you be afraid of getting married?" he asked. She looked in the mirror for a minute and then looked back at her father.  
  
"Well, for one, I'm going to rule TWO countries at the age of 18, second, I'm not as young as some of the other princesses he has to choose from," Buffy said. She looked back at herself in the mirror. She had curves and a chest larger than any of her cousins; she looked like a dancer at one of the local bars. She was a lot older looking than any of the other princesses.   
  
"Father, he's going to think I am a bar dancer," Buffy said with a tear rolling down her cheek. He wiped her tears away and said, "Just wait, you're going to be married to a wealthy man in no time. I guarantee it." She stood there for a minute, just long enough to stop crying and leave a wet spot on her father's dress shirt at the same time.  
  
"Buffy? Sweetheart, come here. Your future husband is waiting to see you," her mother called her into the front hall. She pushed her brown hair out of her eyes, straightened out her skirts, and walked shyly out into her mother's view.  
  
"A little farther," her mother coaxed her out of her hiding place. She took a step forward and saw him.  
  
"Buffy, this is Joe. Joe, this is Buffy, my daughter," her mother introduced them. Buffy blushed, but Joe just looked at her with a blank stare as if he was thinking that this was the most boring day of his life. A woman Buffy thought was Joe's mother called him to the guest room and Buffy walked over to the Great hall. It was a very large dining room, it could seat 200 people, but it never held more than 100. The walls painted with the angels and doves of the heavens; the floor was solid, polished wood. At the moment, the castle servants were putting the food and the dishware on the table. The room was filled with the smells of chicken, roast, cakes, and everything else that they were cooking in the castle kitchen.  
  
"Ah, this is wonderful," Buffy, said as the many full-length windows along the sides of the Great hall warmed her face. In the sunlight, her diamond necklace sparkled like a hundred little stars, shining against her emerald green dress.  
  
"Nice dress, it matches your eyes," Buffy heard a stranger who was standing by a window say.  
  
"Who are you to confront a princess like that wearing the clothes of a peasant? I should call my guards on you," she said to the brave stranger.  
  
"Peasant?" he said. "I guess you don't know who I am then." Buffy felt confused and glanced over her shoulder for a second to make sure no one was watching her. When she looked back he was gone.  
  
"Over here," she heard him say from behind her. She turned around and he was already sitting comfortably in a chair.  
  
"Do you want me to explain my gifts?" he asked her.  
  
"Meet me in the garden in 5 minutes. I need to get something," she agreed curiously. The stranger nodded and Buffy went back to her room. She put on a pair of walking shoes and pinned her hair up. She wrote a note to her father on a ripped out diary page and put it on her dresser. By the time she walked down to the garden, the stranger was already there.  
  
"Okay, now tell me who you are," she said impatiently. He just stood there like he was still waiting for her to get there. After a minute, he just said, "For a princess you're a little rude."  
  
"Just tell me who you are," Buffy said trying to remain calm.  
  
"Dagold," was his answer. She just stood there because she had never heard of him.  
  
"Who are you?" she asked hoping he would explain himself better this time.  
  
"I'll explain as we walk," he said looking away from her at the path. They walked for a few minutes through the garden, which was starting to bloom with flowers of every color imaginable. Buffy pointed out her favorite, which was red at first, then as it bloomed showed stripes of purple and blue. When they reached the center of the garden there were two rabbits that saw them and ran.  
  
"What does this remind you of?" the princess asked as they sat down in the soft grass and watched the fountain.  
  
"My home, my mother, everything I left behind when I left my village," he replied.  
  
"It reminds me of the cliff by the sea in Shiwa. There was an older lady who used to tell stories about mermaids, dragons, you know mystical legends," Buffy said remembering how she used to take the trip to Shiwa every year.  
  
"Did you believe any of it?" Dagold asked with a little curiosity.  
  
"At first, when I was little," she said. "But as I grew older I learned that they couldn't exist because I never saw them and neither did anyone else, but the lady insisted they were real."  
  
"What if I could prove they were real?" he asked her.  
  
"You can't," she told him.  
  
"But what if everything you once thought about them was actually right and they did exist?" he persisted.  
  
"Then I would have to see them," Buffy agreed on their deal.  
  
"They don't come to civilizations; you have to go to them."  
  
"Go to them? Are you crazy?" Dagold stood up and started to walk away when he heard this comment. Buffy got up, grabbed is arm, and said, "Wait! I'll go. Anything to get away from these people, they're driving me crazy."  
  
"I was hoping you'd say that," he said as he turned around. "We leave tomorrow morning meet me here at dawn." She let his arm go and he walked into the shadows.  
  
"Bye," she whispered even though he couldn't hear her. She stood there for a little while with a blank thought, and finally when the church bell chimed noon she ran back to the castle. Her mother was waiting for her in the front hall when she got back.  
  
"Where were you?" her mother asked. "You had me worried sick."  
  
"Stop worrying so much, I was in the garden," Buffy explained. Her mother just shook her head in partial disbelief and walked away. She turned back to her daughter before she left and said, "Tell me next time, okay?"  
  
"Okay, whatever," the princess replied. She stood and stared at the floor for a while, almost long enough to have the whole castle pass her by on their way to the dining hall.  
  
"Buffy? Darling?" she heard as her dad approached the Great hall. "Are you going to purposely miss your own birthday feast?"  
  
"I guess so. At this rate I'm not getting there," Buffy said looking over to her father with a sarcastic smile on her face. He grabbed her hand and led her to her seat. People she didn't even recognize stared at them while she walked by. It took them a minute to get to their seats, but it seemed like an eternity to her. When they got back to their seats, her father stayed standing while she sat down.  
  
"As you all should know, today is the lovely princess Buffy's 16th birthday. This is a very big day for her, as it is with all of us here. Also, today our princess Buffy becomes engaged with the Prince Joe of Shiwa," he announced to the polite crowd. They quietly waited for the instruction to sit and the feast began. The hall soon filled with the sounds of people eating, talking, and laughing. Buffy wasn't hungry so she just pushed her food around her plate until the feasting was over. In the Great hall there was a mountain of gifts that took her an hour to open. Each person was required to bring at least one gift, but many of them brought more. As she opened them she found anything from a quilt to gold coins and one person even brought a white horse into the castle while she was opening other gifts. She was given clothes, china, dolls, art, and toys. None of the gifts especially impressed her, not even the gold coins that Joe brought because he didn't know what to get her. The party lasted until morning, but she decided to go to bed early so she could actually get some sleep that night.  
  



	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Dagold  
  
Dagold sat on a stump whittling a piece of driftwood into the shape of a leaf. He had been whittling since dawn and it was almost finished, but he didn't really see a point because he always threw it away when he was done. He kept at it anyway just keeping himself entertained for a few hours before he had anything to do. He finally finished and threw the rock as far as he could to the treetops, but never actually got that far up. Not in this forest at least. He pulled out some of the leftover meat from his pack from his last trip into town and tore off a piece for breakfast. While he was still eating, Buffy came by riding with her new horse.  
  
"You're late," he said without looking up at her.  
  
"Well, you could have told me that we meeting in the woods instead," Buffy replied annoyed rolling her sleeves up. He finished his breakfast without speaking and re-fastened his pack.  
  
"Well, we're leaving now. Do you still want to go or are you going to back out on me?" Dagold asked Buffy, who was still sitting on her horse. She shook her head yes and he untied his black horse from behind a tree.  
  
"Let's ride then," he said and they were off. There was no straight path, so there was a lot of bumps and missteps. It took them about 5 hours of walking and they came to a river and down the river was a cottage.   
  
"Dagold, can I call you Dagold?" Buffy asked. He nodded and she continued talking, "I have just two questions. Where exactly are we going, and when are we getting there?  
  
"For now we are going to get my crew. They are staying at a cabin a few miles ahead. This one right here is my little house. Well, actually it's not only a house. I don't exactly live in it a lot, but it serves its purpose," Dagold explained.  
  
"Crew? Where did you meet them?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Mostly… everywhere."  
  
"I see. How many people are in it?"  
  
"I guess it's about two or three. Depends mostly on who wanted to come that time and what is going on in their separate lives. Some of us will drift off for a while and come back totally different. I was drifting for about 6 months now. I come back for the warmer months of the year." When they reached his cottage, he opened the door to find a pregnant woman that Dagold recognized immediately.  
  
"Dagold!" she said in excitement with an accent that Buffy didn't recognize from around this area.  
  
"Freya! How are you? I haven't seen you in 6 months; you've changed a lot. What happened? Does anyone else know about this?" Dagold said in excitement.  
  
"I'm fine, thank you. I'm a mother of twins, but I haven't decided on names yet. I'm about 5 ½ months pregnant and no, no one else knows about it," Freya answered. "Oh and I'm sorry for using your cottage. There were wolves last night, you gave us all a key, and you said to use it in case of an emergency, and I did," she said.  
  
"It's okay, but who's the father?" He asked.  
  
"I don't know," she mumbled.  
  
"You don't know??" Dagold said with a confused look on his face. "Wait; don't tell me, I don't want to know."  
  
"Okay, will someone explain to me what is going on here?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Five Years ago she wanted to abolish all of mankind and now you have two kids on the way?" Dagold said just slowly enough so Buffy could understand him.  
  
"And now I was on my way back to everyone else from telling my sister to see if she could figure out who these fatherless children are supposed to look up to, but I became too tired and I was surrounded by a pack of wolves. I decided to wait here for someone, or after a while leave alone," Freya explained.  
  
"Are you okay?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you for asking though, I appreciate it," Freya answered standing up. Dagold sat down near a cushion in the middle of the floor and laid down to use it as a pillow.  
  
"Okay, are all of you people in a kind of club?" Buffy asked them totally confused.  
  
"We are known as the keepers. This land is covered with the elements of fire, water, air, light, life, ice, and earth. Each of those elements is, even by itself, an extremely powerful force and should not be handled on a daily basis by someone who is not specifically trained for that element. I am trained to handle life while Dagold is trained to work with fire," Freya explained.  
  
"What would I be trained for?" Buffy asked.  
  
"We don't know. You weren't exactly part of the plan, but Dagold sensed a powerful source inside of you, and it wasn't familiar to any of us. Not even the eldest of us, Christopher Powell, could find out what it was," Freya said.  
  
"Exactly HOW old are you guys?" Buffy asked them.  
  
"I'm 14, Freya is 15, Christopher is 16, and most of us are still in our young teens. The youngest of us though is 8 years old," Dagold responded.  
  
"8 years old?" Buffy questioned.  
  
"He's not trained yet, he's just our spy. Most places around here wouldn't even consider holding him accountable for his actions," Freya told Buffy. Dagold left and returned with a doe to cook for dinner and a leftovers breakfast. They cooked up most of the deer and Buffy told them what it was like to be a princess. Freya admitted that she had never even seen the inside of a castle. They ate and afterward Buffy was so full that she fell asleep, using moss as a pillow. Dagold and Freya followed her example and they fell asleep on patches of moss.   
  
The next morning, Freya woke up before everyone else and started cooking more deer for their breakfast. Soon the smell woke Dagold and Buffy.  
  
"Mmm… something smells good," Dagold said tearing off a sliver of the half-cooked deer and swallowed it whole. Freya giggled and said, "Wait until it's done, you'll get sick if you don't and I don't think that Buffy can take care of both of us right now."  
  
"No, I couldn't even take care of one of you by myself; I never learned how to care for the sick, or the pregnant. My mother said it was never important because my job was to have my husband's children and look pretty," Buffy said in response to Freya's remark.  
  
"Yeah, that's going to get you through life if your royalty runs out," Dagold said sarcastically. "But I think we should get going now, we don't know exactly when Freya here will go into labor."  
  
"Don't worry, my mother and my grandmother never delivered even a week early. I'll be fine; the trip is only half month long," Freya tried to convince them.  
  
"We're not going to rush the trip, and don't even think that we are going to climb down the side of the cliff. Not in your condition."  
  
"What do you mean condition? I'm pregnant, not injured."  
  
"You still need to take it easy."  
  
"I will."  
  
"You've never listened before."  
  
"Give one example of when," Freya put her hands on her hips and glared at Dagold. Dagold glared back and you could just barely see, but the tips of Dagold's hair started to turn red. After a few seconds, his hair first singed, and then turned into tiny flames. The fire gave off light, but in return it didn't actually burn anything. Buffy stood in awe and no one even seemed to notice. They stood there in a staring contest until Buffy sneezed, then they both jumped and returned to normal.   
  
"What was that?" Buffy asked them wondering what on Gaia happened.  
  
"Sorry, we have been fighting on this one subject since we were kids. What you saw was our emotions controlling our powers. That's one thing that you need to be trained not to do, but some of us can't fully control it. Like Dagold and myself," Freya told Buffy.  
  
"Let's go," Dagold said already packed and on a horse with no saddle.  
  
"Where'd the horse come from?" Freya asked.  
  
"The horse shook her head and revealed a white stripe right along the edge of her mane.  
  
"Heather? Is that you?" Freya asked. Buffy didn't see why she was talking to a horse; it wasn't like it could understand.  
  
"Dagold is this--?" Dagold cut Freya short.  
  
"Yep," he said nodding his head.  
  
"Wow! I thought she was let loose permanently last time and she retired," Freya circled around the mare looking her over. Heather resisted and spun to keep herself facing Freya. Dagold dismounted and handed the reins to Freya.  
  
"I want YOU to ride her," he said. She had to have a boost from Dagold and Buffy, but she got onto Heather. They climbed around a cliff down a slope and loaded into a large boat. Heather was tied up and Buffy went and slept in one of the beds onboard. Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard to fall asleep on the ship since she was already tired from the trip down to the ocean. 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: Trinity  
  
Once everyone had gotten off the ship and had eaten breakfast, the three teenagers continued on their journey on foot, or in Freya's case horseback. They rested for dinner on the side of a valley with a river running its course at the bottom. They all settled down, ate lunch, and Buffy and Dagold had a race to the bottom and Buffy won.   
  
"For a princess you're pretty athletic," Dagold admitted defeat. Buffy splashed him with the clear fish filled river water.  
  
"Do you always take compliments that way?" Dagold asked confused.  
  
"Do you always talk this much? I've learned that life is best lived if you relax and enjoy the world around you," Buffy told Dagold. His jaw dropped and he had a surprised look on his face.  
  
"That is supposed to be my saying," he said.  
  
"Then I guess great minds think alike," she responded mostly complimenting herself. They paused for a while and Dagold started to throw rocks into the river to see if he could stir up any of the fish, but all that happened was a surprised frog jumped out of the water onto the other side.  
  
"How did you guys start this whole thing?" She asked.  
  
"Start? We didn't start it. The whole thing has been around for millions of years, it's nothing new," Dagold explained it to Buffy.  
  
"But why?" She asked. Dagold thought about it for a minute, but couldn't think of why of the top of his head.  
  
"I guess the world needs a chance to reboot after a while," he explained even though he couldn't explain it himself. He looked up in the evening sky at the dwindling sunlight and saw smoke in the distance. He ran back up to Freya and Serena on the hilltop to see if she knew who it was.  
  
"For once you ask me who it is, and I have no clue even if it's even human," She answered. They watched it in the distance to see if it was a spreading forest fire or just a campfire. Meanwhile, Buffy ran back up to them wondering what was going on. It didn't appear to spread so they rode over to where it was at hoping it wasn't thieves.  
  
"Do you think it's thieves?" Buffy asked.  
  
"No, they wouldn't give themselves away unless they wanted to be caught. The only other reason would be that it was so cold that having a fire was a life-or-death matter, but it's May at it doesn't get that cold anymore," Freya explained. Buffy calmed down and they continued walking along the cleared path. A wolf came out onto the path to make itself visible to them. Frightened by the predator, Buffy tensed up and waited to see what Freya would say. She just remained calm and slowly approached the defensive wolf like she knew exactly what she was doing. The wolf growled at first and then sniffed her hand. The wolf looked up and started to wag her tail and lick Freya's hand in submission. They started to walk down the path again and Buffy was being sniffed by the wolf the rest of the way there.  
  
"Hey!" Freya called out into the clearing from the edge of the trees. The guy sitting in front of a fire; the same one we saw in the distance, turned around and stood up to greet them.  
  
"Hey, I missed you girls!" He said greeting them and dissing Dagold at the same time. He hugged Freya and shook Buffy's hand.  
  
"Girls?" Dagold responded offended.  
  
"Okay, this is Christopher, the oldest of all of us," Freya introduced Buffy.  
  
"Oldest? You make me feel ancient!" He complained as he shook Buffy's hand again.  
  
"My name is Buffy, the ex-princess," she introduced herself.  
  
"Ex-princess?" Christopher asked emphasizing the ex.  
  
"I quit, I hate royalty. You have to dress a certain way, eat a certain way, talk a certain way, it gets so annoying," she complained. Christopher invited them to sit down around the fire and he finished cooking his dinner. A low pitched almost unnoticeable slow beating sound of wings approached from a distance. Freya stood up because she knew something was coming and she needed to find out what is was. A girl with wings landed roughly on the ground and pushed her hair out of her eyes.  
  
"I need more practice on my landings," she mumbled to herself.  
  
"This is Trinity. She's from B lumberg," Max introduced her while she was still not paying attention.  
  
"You can tell too," Dagold said staring at her. "She has the classic Blumberg looks; tall, thin, long, brown hair. Somehow though they always seem to be weak fighters and very easily angered." Trinity looked up and jumped.  
  
"Who are you and when did you people get here?" She asked.  
  
"Before you came back," Max told her.  
  
"I'm Freya, this is Buffy, and Dagold," She introduced them. She felt warmth behind her and she added, "And Serena."  
  
"When did you join?" Dagold asked her wanting to know her better.  
  
"Two months ago. Max said controlling air is a lot harder because it's everywhere and you can't see it or move it around as easily," She started to talk. "I've been able to fly for longer, but that was when I was a kid and I've lost practice so I have to start learning all over again."  
  
"Well, Buffy here hasn't even started her training. Do you think that you could start her off with the basics? You know, the history that you already know and the rules of the elements. Oh, and while you're at it teach her how to survive the outdoors," Freya told her. Trinity nodded and she led Buffy back into their cabin. Trinity opened up the door and the smell of fresh cut wood flooded Buffy's senses. It was neat and tidy, but still outdoorsy. Trinity walked into the living room where she showed Buffy to a comfortable seat.  
  
"So, where are you from?" Trinity asked Buffy.  
  
"I was the princess of Roget," she answered.  
  
"I always imagined that I was a princess when I was a little girl, but I've never actually met one," Trinity said.  
  
"Well, I don't like it, you have to walk, talk, look, even sleep a certain way. It's so frustrating. Everyone says that everything has to be perfect about you, no matter how you feel that day," She complained. Trinity looked down because she finally knew what Buffy was feeling.  
  
"I guess even being rich and powerful has it's disadvantages. I always thought my family had it rough. We were farmers and this last year our crops failed and we still had to pay the king's taxes," She said to Buffy. "I guess we should get started on the lesson though."  
  
"Okay, there are two powerful forces ruling over Gaia, the goddess and the god. In our beginning, the goddess put fourteen humans on Gaia. Each of the different couples represented the different elements in the circle; earth, fire, water, ice, life, air, and light. Each of them split up into groups after the 7th generation and made the cities Pabo, Roke, Choma, Roget, Leno, Sensu, and Blumberg. For a few hundred years everyone knew about the circle, but as time went on, the story slowly faded into legend because there was no trace of their existence anywhere. It is said in legends that the powers of these seven mighty people will only be resurrected when no one believed in them anymore and the world will fall into an apocalypse. That is why we are grouping together again. We must try and stop the apocalypse."  
  
"Why don't people believe anymore?" Buffy asked.  
  
"We don't know, but according to some of the mages we will be the only survivors, along with the untamed animals and every dragon," She told what she knew.  
  
"Why the dragons?" Buffy asked curiously.  
  
"They are the gatekeepers of the apocalypse, they wouldn't kill themselves, in turn they live for a million years or even more. I estimate that Serena isn't even twenty years old yet," She estimated.  
  
"How would you guess that?" She asked confused because she knew that there weren't any dragons even in that part of the world.  
  
"She can't use her wings and she is only 5 feet tall. I learned about dragons from stories my mother used to tell me. She died when I was nine, I never even got to say goodbye, she died while I was on a fishing trip with my dad," Trinity explained.  
  
"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said somewhat understandingly.  
  
"You don't have to say that. It wasn't your fault, you couldn't have prevented it." Trinity felt a little better.  
  
"Do you have any idea where we are going?" Buffy asked Trinity changing the subject curiously. All of a sudden, someone screamed outside and everyone laughed, including Buffy and Trinity. 


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Cloud  
  
The group, now full from a large dinner, sat around the campfire talking about their life since the last time they talked, or just about their life.  
  
"Okay, I know I hate introductions, let's just put our pasts behind us and start over again. I have been researching this destiny thing and this is no joke, no magic trick, and has nothing, of what I know, to do with the Chie. The situation we face is a much bigger issue, affecting more than just the tame dimension, it affects everyone, everything, the only recorded animals to survive the last time this happened were a chosen few and the only ones who still are alive are dragons, the ancestors of what they call the elementals. Serena is the elemental dragon of earth and there are 6 more out there that are to follow us in the completion of our destinies. The problem is that some of these dragons have some social… weird…ness. Each dragon will mimic the attributes of its element. I expect to have trouble mainly with the fire dragon and the earth dragon." Freya informed them.  
  
"So you're saying we have a chance that we don't' survive this and everything just ends?" Trinity asked frightened.  
  
"No, according to some of the ancient texts I read, everything else will go on, but humans will be gone, erased from the planet like they were never here." Freya answered the question of her possible doom with very little emotion. Trinity stared out of frightened eyes as tears began to surface and she started to cry.  
  
"I don't want to die! I'm too young! This can't happen!" She screamed and Dagold pulled her to his chest shushing her.  
  
"It's okay, we'll be fine, its been done before. C'mon, we'll be fine," he tried to calm her down. Trinity eventually stopped crying and they all fell asleep soon after Freya put out the fire.  
  
The next morning, Dagold was the first to wake and looked down at Trinity who had fallen asleep using his chest as a pillow. He had never noticed how soft her skin looked.  
  
"The sweetest things in the world can never be mine," he whispered to himself as he stroked her face and hair being careful not to wake her. She slowly opened her eyes and whispered, "and those things are what?"  
  
"Oh nothing, nothing at all," he said.  
  
"Then I guess I'll be back in a half hour, I need to take my shower," Trinity said. Dagold watched her walk away and thought to himself that she knew what he said and was just trying to tease him. Trinity walked off and as soon as she was out of hearing distance she giggled and skipped the rest of the way to a waterfall. Right before she entered the water clearing she heard a large animal exhale. She sniffed the air and something smelled like the fresh wind of spring, but summer was quickly approaching and the fresh, pure smell had faded weeks before. She forgot all about the breathing, about every sound, closed her eyes and her heart (following her favorite smell) lead her into the clearing and she opened her eyes to find these big, cloud mirrors that looked like many little clouds swirling in each one. She was so deep in the trance of the smell, and now these beautiful mirrors, she reached out to touch one and it pulled back, she reached farther and it… blinked? She realized it was a dragon and stood there breathless.  
  
"Oh my god…" she whispered. The dragon pulled back and exhaled again. Trinity was so frightened, but so captivated by her beauty. She put out a hand to her snout and slowly lowered it onto the dragon. The dragon looked down into her eyes like it was looking at its mother.  
  
"D-do you think I could take a shower please?" Trinity asked. The dragon nodded and stepped aside. She undressed and hung her clothes on a branch, watching the dragon the whole time. She waded over to the deeper part of the river and dove under. She found a shallower island area near the middle of the river. When she resurfaced, the dragon sprayed her with a fine mist of water. That started their water fight. When Trinity was tired she surrendered and redressed.  
  
"Do you have a name?" Trinity asked. The dragon shook her head no.  
  
"Do you think I could give you a name?" She asked. The dragon nodded.  
  
"What about Cloud?" She nodded and accepted the name.  
  
"Well, Cloud, let's go meet the gang. I expect them to be awake right now. Can you fly?" Cloud perked right up, confused, but happy. Trinity's wings reformed from earlier. Cloud was still confused, but she crouched, ready to take off after Trinity. They took off and landed at camp, to many surprised faces.  
  
"What, how, where?" Freya asked bewildered.  
  
"Long story, can't exactly explain, but her name is Cloud and I met her at the river. Isn't she so beautiful?" Trinity said, stroking her neck.  
  
"Yeah, your- err- her eyes are just so amazing," Dagold said. Serena walked over and started circling Cloud sniffing her and judging her. Cloud was slightly smaller, but obviously stronger. Serena accepted her into the group.  
  
"Hey, why do your eyes look so cool?" Serena asked her psychically.  
  
"What do you mean? I've never seen them, what do they look like?" Cloud asked curiously.  
  
"Like the clouds, the springtime clouds, you know the ones you never expected never to rain, but it just starts pouring. You know the fluffy kind."  
  
"Really?" She said perking up with the attitude of a young child.  
  
"Yes really, wait, how old are you?" Serena asked.  
  
"About 200 (the maturity of a 10 year old if she were human), why?" She answered.  
  
"Oh nothing." Serena was 300 (which was about 15 if she were human).  
  
"You're just lucky you didn't get hurt," Dagold said. "I don't think the other dragons will just trust us like this one does."  
  
"I'm all right, no scratches, okay?" Trinity said spinning 360 degrees. Chris walked up to Cloud and she stepped back. He took another step towards her and she moved back.  
  
"Very timid, no wonder why she wasn't a problem," Chris tried to examine Cloud. "Trinity, do you think you could get her to open her mouth?"  
  
"Cloud, I need you to open your mouth, please?" She asked. Cloud kneeled down and opened her mouth as wide as she could. Chris stepped up and counted her teeth.  
  
"She's about 200, I bet she still has a small fear of many things, including physical contact with other things, like myself and Serena," Chris explained. "Probably the reason she was so nice to you. She was afraid to hurt you, she's still in the stage where she thinks by hurting you, she will hurt herself worse." Cloud closed her mouth and laid down looking attentive. 


End file.
